Why only one construction ship per station plot?

[TwoPunnyFourWords]

Topic subject says it all, I guess.

I just don't see the logic. If you have a small station that you're building, you'd only send one construction ship, but if you have a mega-complex that's hundreds of times the size of the average station, you'd only send ONE construction ship?

Why not assign multiple construction ships to a station plot and have each ship build a single module at a time?

I also think it's somewhat silly that construction ships cost a once-off fee to build a station and they don't care if they're stuck at the same plot for literal weeks of game time. I wanna meet the construction company that works like that IRL, I think I might have a few projects for them to consider.

[Caedes91]

Most probably to pad game time. Before allowing to add more than one construction ships, they also need to remove the 30 building drone cap.

[db48x]

That’s just how the game was designed. Notice that your own employees don’t even get a salary. The game has no running costs at all, ever. No fuel, no maintenance, no salaries.

[jlehtone]

I just don't see the logic. If you have a small station that you're building, you'd only send one construction ship, but if you have a mega-complex that's hundreds of times the size of the average station, you'd only send ONE construction ship?

Why not assign multiple construction ships to a station plot and have each ship build a single module at a time?

However, you could build hundreds of megacomplexes simultaneously and that would take only as long as building one. You can build hundreds of small stations faster than one huge. Perhaps the logic is "to give you choices"?


We have seen screenshots of huge stations; thousands of modules. Some players can build big with one builder ship. Personally, I have no need for gigamegastations, nor would be hampered by current build speeds if I would build those anyway.

[Alan Phipps]

It has been discussed before and with mixed player reception.

[TwoPunnyFourWords]

It has been discussed before and with mixed player reception.

In that case, what about a full-on construction DLC pack? Those who want to leave things as they are can choose not to buy it or disable it at their leisure, and the rest of us can buy a nice expansion which does cool things like let us build multiple modules at a time or perhaps even build "mega-modules" that have a simplified geometric structure while having an abstract amount of construction storage space which any number of other modules can be placed into it so long as the total number is less than the construction storage space of the mega-module.

With a bit of clever thinking you could drastically decrease the performance hit that the game takes when trying to cope with mega-station monstrosities, and I think many players would appreciate this.

[Nanook]

It has been discussed before and with mixed player reception.

In that case, what about a full-on construction DLC pack? Those who want to leave things as they are can choose not to buy it or disable it at their leisure, and the rest of us can buy a nice expansion which does cool things like let us build multiple modules at a time or perhaps even build "mega-modules" that have a simplified geometric structure while having an abstract amount of construction storage space which any number of other modules can be placed into it so long as the total number is less than the construction storage space of the mega-module....

Who needs strategy, right? Just plop down a few modules, hire a gazillion builder ships, and you're done building your supermegagigaplex in mere minutes that can build everything in the game. No need for creative thinking, planning ahead or any of those other bothersome tasks inherent in building giant structures. And then get bored and play something else because there's no longer any challenge to the game. Sounds like a plan.

[TwoPunnyFourWords]

Who needs strategy, right? Just plop down a few modules, hire a gazillion builder ships, and you're done building your supermegagigaplex in mere minutes that can build everything in the game. No need for creative thinking, planning ahead or any of those other bothersome tasks inherent in building giant structures. And then get bored and play something else because there's no longer any challenge to the game. Sounds like a plan.

I don't think this follows in the least. The main choke point when it comes to station construction isn't building time but supplying the stations with adequate resources. Especially when you're talking about the early game when hull parts are in short supply. So the strategy involved in station construction revolves around supplying the complexes with adequate resource, not how long you have to wait until the buildings are made. The mega-complexes are something you start constructing after you've solved whatever strategic requirements you initially had, and that's probably done with 1-2 dozen 4x4x4 station plots if we're talking extensive ship construction. What advantage would there be had in putting everything in 1 station from an economic standpoint? Saving on the cost of a couple of dock modules? 20-odd solid/liquid containers?

The point about speeding up the overall construction of the stations is precisely so that you don't end up waiting around for days and days and days after you've already rendered the strategic limitations within the game a non-consideration for all intents and purposes.

[GCU Grey Area]

What advantage would there be had in putting everything in 1 station from an economic standpoint?

Logistics. Building a single big station eliminates the need for all the ships that would otherwise be needed to shift wares between different modules in each production chain. Can potentially remove the need for a staggering number of ships. HQ in my current game has well over 1k production modules. If I'd built that amount of production as 1k individual stations they'd need a similarly vast fleet of freighters just to move stuff between them. This is why my main production facilities tend to be quite large.

Do agree with Nanook though. Deciding what scale to build at is an interesting strategic choice, which broadly boils down to a question of how fast do I want my stations to start making stuff. In practice tend to build at all scales, depending on my needs in a particular game. If I need a lot of production capacity NOW, then small & numerous is the way to go. If time is a less critical factor I'll build a few moderately big stations instead. Then there's my HQ which tends to be in a state of almost continuous construction from the start to the end of each game.

[TwoPunnyFourWords]

What advantage would there be had in putting everything in 1 station from an economic standpoint?

Logistics. Building a single big station eliminates the need for all the ships that would otherwise be needed to shift wares between different modules in each production chain. Can potentially remove the need for a staggering number of ships. HQ in my current game has well over 1k production modules. If I'd built that amount of production as 1k individual stations they'd need a similarly vast fleet of freighters just to move stuff between them. This is why my main production facilities tend to be quite large.

Do agree with Nanook though. Deciding what scale to build at is an interesting strategic choice, which broadly boils down to a question of how fast do I want my stations to start making stuff. In practice tend to build at all scales, depending on my needs in a particular game. If I need a lot of production capacity NOW, then small & numerous is the way to go. If time is a less critical factor I'll build a few moderately big stations instead. Then there's my HQ which tends to be in a state of almost continuous construction from the start to the end of each game.

You can get the same advantages by being selective and building several smaller stations. I have several 4x4x4 modules which are dedicated to the construction of a single end-product and which have exactly the right ratio of fabrication modules to ensure optimal operation once they're fully populated. These stations do not take terribly long to build and you have the same basic problem of getting the raw materials to the station and then moving the end-product to a shipyard somewhere. I don't put the fabrication stuff in the same location as a shipyard anyway, because building ships reduces the overall population and this can lead to headaches unless you plan to have a large surplus population; what I usually do is have a shipyard with enough people to maximise the production along with enough food production plants for the shipyard to feed itself using only ice as an input ingredient. From a logistical standpoint I'm going to have more or less the same number of trading ships and the same number of mining ships regardless.